


Journeys in the Sandsea

by likestoimagine



Series: The Tales of Lore [3]
Category: DragonFable
Genre: AU, Bag of Holding, Gen, Sands of Eternity, Sandsea, The Hard Way
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-19
Updated: 2014-10-21
Packaged: 2018-02-13 18:51:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2161290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/likestoimagine/pseuds/likestoimagine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Society thrives even under the harsh sun of the Sandsea. The stories to be told thrive just as well.</p>
<p>Or, tales of the residents of the Sandsea.</p>
<p>(Chapter 2 - The land of sun and sky and desert heat does wonders to chase away the darkness of isolated pasts.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Bit of a Tight Fit

“Well… I could try to sneak you out in my backpack… If it can hold that many weapons, then there MUST be room for you.”

 

“Now you’re just being silly.” Kasuf replies. He is about to suggest the secret way out when he thinks about his next sentence… it may be more dangerous than facing Zhoom… So why was he advocating it?

 

“… You’re a mage, right?” he asks instead. 

 

Emma raises an eyebrow, then glances down at her mage robes. And her mage staff. And she idly plays with a snowball in her free mage hand. “Last time I checked, yes.”

 

Grumbling ‘it was a rhetorical question’ under his breath, Kasuf nevertheless continues, “Well, that means your weapons wouldn’t be too sharp, right?”

 

“Well, yeah,” Emma shrugs, “I mean, some of the staves can be pretty ornamental, but they’re not really made for stabbing. They’re pretty good for whacking, though, if it becomes necessary.”

 

Kasuf takes a (not very) subtle step back, because hero or not, he isn’t entirely sure how he feels about a mage with a propensity for whacking things with hard, magically-charged, and ornamentally pointy sticks. Though, since she’s on his side, he guesses its a moot point, so he finally sighs and puts his face in his hands. 

 

“I must be insane…” he mutters to himself. Then, he raises his head and speaks up louder, “Ok, lets try out the bag now.”

 

Emma blinks at him with a flat, “What, really?” and Kasuf congratulates himself on actually managing to startle the Hero of Lore whose stories have reached even the Sandsea before he continues, “Yeah. I was going to suggest a secret passageway, but its probably more dangerous than Zhoom, so…”

 

The hero nods and answers, “Yeah, makes sense.” She shrugs off her pack and sets it on the floor, opening it up as far as she can. Which is about as wide as any other normal sized backpack.

 

Kasuf looks into the total blackness of the bag, which may or may not be endless, and rethinks his life choices. He’s _slightly_ apprehensive. “How do you find anything in here?”

 

“I dunno, I just think about it and stick my hand in, then it comes. Never tried it with a person, but my staves all end up fine, and so does all my jewelry and clothes and food and stuff, so really, you should be fine.”

 

“Great.” Kasuf takes a deep breath, prays to the Avatars that he’ll make it out alive, then steps into the bag.

 

oOoOo

 

Its actually not that bad. Its completely dark except for the glow of what looks like a Luster staff (he’s not too familiar with light weapons because they’re near useless in the Sandsea, but some of the hero’s exploits are accompanied by descriptions or pictures from the more artistic folk, and they do get their own use elsewhere) and some staff with a lantern on it. Aside from the point of a stray pencil or something digging into his kidney, it could actually be deemed comfortable. Or, more comfortable than capture at the very least. 

 

oOoOo

 

There’s a hand on the back of Kasuf’s shirt, then he’s pulled rather gracelessly out of the blackness.

 

He’s in the bright light of a deserted dune, dangling from the hand of the hero like an unruly cat.

 

Without putting him down, Emma asks, “So, how was it down there?”

 

Kasuf shrugs, still in midair, then answers, “Well, it could have been worse.”


	2. Land of Skies Full of Sunlight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its the bright light dancing on glittering waves of sand, the vast expanse of the desert sky, the warm fingers brushing his, that remind Zhoom that he's finally free.

Its a welcome change in Zhoom's schedule when Emma, after several months, shows up one day in full explorers garb and more or less demands that he go on an adventure with her, even when his question of, “Do you even know where we’re going?” is met with a completely unrepentant, “NOPE!”

 

Because, the destination isn’t quite the point of these outings, if he's being honest. They don’t really _need_ to explore, because even if its vast as the ocean, most of the Sandsea is …well… sand… and anything thats a bit more interesting is probably similar to what Zhoom’s already seen, as he lives there and was literally born for heat-soaked dunes and skies filled with sunlight. (This is the reason that he takes charge after Emma’s finished leading them in a random direction for an hour, though, so that they don’t get _completely lost_. Emma has many talents, navigation is not one of them.)

 

If anyone asks, the point of these semi-regular ‘quests’ is something casual like scouting or treasure-hunting or clearing out monster infestations. Simple enough, even if thats not what they do.

 

What they actually do is bathe in shimmering desert light, breathe in the scent of sun-baked dunes, spread their arms to the skies like wings catching wind and relish in the feeling of finally being _free_. Emma gathers sunbeams in her palms and presses them to Zhoom's hands, and Zhoom interlocks their fingers so that they can hold on to the warmth and the simple pleasure of company thats been absent for a decade.

 

Or, if they want to laugh in the face of cold and darkness, they bundle up for the night and lie flat on their backs, staring at the spray of stars in the sky and the smooth silver of the low-hanging moon, to remind themselves that light still shines in the darkest nights.

 

Zhoom has spent years chained in dank shadows, away from the burnished gold sun and helpless as he watched his pathetic excuse of a father drain years of his life for every passing one. Emma has spent approximately the same time suspended in a prison of glacial ice and months beyond that in the sunless expanse of the Void, only to come back with heavy lines of grief in the fall of her shoulders and dampness in her eyes.

 

This land of light does wonders for chasing the darkness away, though, and the burdens of time passed are seared away when lifted to the boundlessly clear sky with a second pair of hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just thinking of the similarities of the adventurer's and Zhoom's problems during the time-skip


End file.
